Mahesh
Murthy

Mahesh Murthy is one of the world's more iconoclastic marketers, with over four decades of experience building and growing iconic brands like Pepsi, The Economist, Microsoft, MTV and Nike across the US, Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and India.

Mahesh started his career selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door in India before finding a job in advertising, where he quickly grew to set up the creative department of a multinational agency in New Delhi at the age of 22.

He then moved to Hong Kong, where he managed brands like Microsoft and Pepsi across 40 countries while working for the madman and legend Neil French, before being hired by a Silicon Valley digital marketing firm — perhaps the first such agency in the world.

While living on the West Coast, Mahesh helped design Yahoo! and launch Amazon.com, and later helped run the early e-commerce businesses of Bloomingdale's and 1-800-Flowers while at a pre-Shopify e-commerce store company.

Mahesh was hired to come back to India to turn around a set of youth TV channels: MTV and Channel V, and then stayed bon to launch India's first angel investing vehicle, Passionfund, followed by perhaps the first institutionalized VC fund in India, Seedfund.

Somewhat disheartened by the lack of financial outcomes in advertising, a business he loved, he started one of the world's first pay-for-performance brand marketing companies, Pinstorm, in 2004. Pinstorm went on to rack up a load of awards over the years while also making (and losing and making) money.

Meanwhile at Seedfund, Mahesh helped make pioneering investments into India's early internet-driven consumer successes like Redbus, CarWale, Chumbak, Sabka Dentist and SportsKeeda.

Mahesh also invested in the nascent space industry in 2015 and launched India's first private satellites via his firm Satellize, earlier called Exseed Space in 2019 (and 2020, 2021 and 2023).

He lived in the Netherlands for a few years before moving to the UAE in 2022. He continues to invest, market and advise firms, while speaking at some of the top events in the region: Gitex in Dubai, Nasscom in India, Space Week in Hamburg.

Mahesh is a dad to three brats, an inveterate traveller having been to over 110 countries and all 7 continents, and tries to be a better photographer.